Can America be trusted?

By David Haldane

SURIGAO CITY - It’s a painful question. Especially for an American who wants, more than anything, to take pride in his homeland.

US concerned over Manila Bay reclamation

THE UNITED States Embassy in Manila raised concerns over the possible environmental impact and the "ties" of a Chinese firm to the ongoing Manila Bay reclamation projects in the capital.

DND: EDCA meant to boost PH defense capabilities, not for war

THE PHILIPPINES' Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States is aimed at improving the country's defensive capabilities and is not meant for war.

PH steps up interactions on maritime defense with US, France

THE PHILIPPINES' interactions with the United States and France on maritime law enforcement and defense continue to increase.

US to give $70-M aid for AFP infrastructure improvements

THE UNITED States (US) is set to provide USD70 million in aid for the infrastructure improvements of the Armed Forces in the Philippines in the next two years.

China won't bully neighbours over South China Sea, says foreign minister

CHINA WILL not use its strength to bully its smaller neighbours including the Philippines, its foreign minister said on Monday, as he highlighted the importance of settling disputes in the South China Sea peacefully.

Duterte to get more loans

THE PHILIPPINES continues to sink in debts the government trumpeted fresh loans running into billions of pesos to fund the purchases of anti-Covid vaccines and other responses to the pandemic.

USAID praises Zambo mayor

THE UNITED States Agency for International Development (USAID) praised Mayor Beng Climaco for her continued collaboration on its various projects and programs here and even cited her “visionary leadership” that resulted in many accomplishments.

Assassination of Qassem Soleimani was top secret mission: report

THE MAGAZINE Newsweek has quoted several unnamed sources as saying that only a few people were in the know about the killing of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by a US MQ-9 Reaper drone in Iraq earlier this year.

Duterte to make good his threats to scrap VFA

FILIPINO LEADER Rodrigo Duterte has vowed for the second time to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States after Washington cancelled the visa of former Philippine police chief and now Senator Ronald dela Rosa, and forbidden his Cabinet members to go to the United States.

“I am terminating. I was not joking. The day I said it was the day that I decided it should be terminated. Alam mo sabi nila na it’s my — subject to my whim, ‘yung kapritso. No. It started when they mentioned about the resolution in the US Senate. They were trying to figure — trying to figure out who would be the persons who will be barred from entering. Noon pa lang nag — ‘yung utak ko gumagalaw na. Ganun ako eh, hindi naman ako naghihintay,” he told reporters.

China will never give up an inch of territory, defense minister says

CHINA WILL NEVER give up an inch of its territory, whether the self-ruled island of Taiwan it claims as its own, or in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, the country's defense minister said.

 

Beijing has been infuriated by recent U.S. sanctions on its military, one of a growing number of flashpoints in ties with Washington that include a bitter trade war, Taiwan and China's increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea.

 

Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe made the remarks at the opening of the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, which China styles as its answer to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in the wealthy city-state of Singapore.

 

China's military ties with the United States are important and sensitive, Wei said, adding that Taiwan was a "core" interest of China's and Beijing opposed displays of strength by "outside forces" in the South China Sea.

 

The world's two largest economies needed to deepen high-level ties so as to navigate tension and rein in the risk of inadvertent conflict, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told his Chinese counterpart last week. Mattis saw firsthand last month how mounting Sino-U.S. friction can undermine military contacts, when Beijing upended plans for him to meet Wei in October.

 

China has been angered by the U.S. sanctions on its military for buying weapons from Russia, and by what Beijing sees as stepped-up U.S. support for democratic Taiwan, which it claims as sacred territory. China has also expressed concern after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington would withdraw from a landmark Cold War-era treaty that eliminated nuclear missiles from Europe because Russia was violating the pact.

 

China is not a party to that treaty, but Trump has also suggested Beijing's military strength played a role in his decision, which China has described as "completely wrong". Last week, the United States sent two warships through the Taiwan Strait in the second such operation this year. China-Taiwan relations have deteriorated since the island's President Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, swept to power in 2016.

 

Beijing, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, has also viewed U.S. overtures toward the island with alarm, such as a new de facto embassy there and passage of a law to encourage visits by U.S. officials. (Reuters)